Camera: Canon 20D + 24-70 2.8 / 70-200 2.8

I was shooting a big wedding today; all was going well until the ceremony. I took a shot and I got an "Error 99" message. I've seen this many times before, this wasn't anything new. No problem, right? Wrong. I took out the CF card and removed the batteries from the grip. I put the card and batteries back in and the shutter kept going off even though the camera was turned to OFF. Still no luck. Luckily I had a back up camera so I switched over to that, but still.

That was six hours ago and it's still doing the same thing. I have to keep the batteries out of the camera to keep it form going off.

Has this ever happened to you? Does your 20D's shutter/mirror keep going off even without the CF and the power turned on? Any ideas what's going on? I think I have about 60,000 clicks on it. I thought the shutter life was 100k?

Any help is MUCH appreciated as you can understand my frustration.

Nicole Rork

if you cant put a battery in it without going off, your shutter is crapped out. send it to canon & it'll cost $200-600.

M

If that's the case, I should just buy a new body? It's two years old and it already has over 60k clicks on it.

If you get a new shutter, it will have zero clicks on it.

but if the rest of the cam has issues & wear....

it really depends - send it to canon and get the estimate. if its' $200 fix it. if it's $600 dump it.

They quoted me 200, i paid, they paid me back and quoted me 600 lol

For $200 I agree. Fix it. But other then that, I'm sure that camera already paid it self off so might be better off putting it out of it's misery and move on to new one.

There's not much else to wear out. I would hope that the mirror motor gets replaced along with the shutter and that everything else is checked.

But the problem is that they are probably out of 20D shutters and can only supply refurbished cameras.

I would try taking the grip off and using the camera without it.

I got Error 99 one time and it was the grip causing the problem.

Sean

Also try changing the lens. The contacts might be dirty.

Good point. And Canon should repair or replace the grip at no charge, because many of them were faulty.

I had similar issues with the grip on my 20d. I just took the stupid thing off. The vertical trigger is nice but other then that pointless. You should be able to last an entire day on one battery and if not it is a quick change.

Did you try cleaning the lens contacts and the lens mount?

I really doubt removing the grip will solve it permanently.

My 20D did the SAME thing. I called it the possessed camera.

I put it on the phone with Canon, and they tried to do an exorcism over the phone, but it didn't work.

That was years ago, and my possessed 20D was talking to about 6 Canon techs all on speakerphone who had never heard a 20D do that before. I sent it to the center in Irvine, they fixed it for free (even though it was 4-6 months out of warranty) and had it back to me in about 7 days!

I never fully trusted it again, though. I ended up selling it to an acquaintance, and I hear it's still plugging along!

Get a 5D!

~Carey

dont you hate it when that happens?

The shutter is only rated to 30k... you're extremely lucky this didn't happen sooner. Send it in and have your shutter mechanism replaced - cost averages around $400. I believe the 30D is rated to 100,000 but I could be wrong.

On the other hand, the mark III is rated to 300k

At least it didn't float and spit green muck at you!

FWIW... I have a 20D I've shot since '04 (two newer ones as well). The oldest body has to be pushing well over 60K. Aside from a stuck pixel that gets corrected automaticlly in ACR noise reduction, I have no issues with it.

Personally, I'd get it fixed either way and get another body, then keep the 20D as backup.

Still flip-flopping on the 5D myself, but I am leaning in that direction. I'm just having a tough time getting past the R.O.I. on 20D/30D vs. 5D. Truly wide on my 17-40L should be fun as well as normal range on my 28-70L. I'll probably keep the 70-200 on a 20D for the extra reach. Okay, I'm rambling now

We had the EXACT same thing back in February of this year on one of our old 20D's. Took the battery out...kept on firing.



Ditto! Our quote was $600 plus shipping. Since they are $1000 new, this didn't seem like a good investment.

Anybody want to by a crapped out 20D, with 73,000 shutter clicks, that is going to cost you cost $600 to repair? I'll ship it to you for $50! :-) Oops...I should have posted this in the "deals" forum!

~ Charles

You can get the 30D NEW from KEH for $1,099 and Like new 20D $889.00

http://www.keh.com/OnLineStore/ProductList...mp;GBC=&GCC=

Problem solved. Bought a new body

Plastic surgery? LOL
Which camera did you end up going with?

I ended up buying the 30D since I already have the grip. My next purchase will be a 5D

I never new that is what was wrong with my 20D grip...will they still replace it? I bought it 2 years ago.

i had a problem that was somewhat similar problem...short answer...sold my 20D for $280 and bought a refurb. 30D for $900. i'm very pleased!